Revelation 16 promises epic pandemic with mark of beast

COVID-19 is a global epidemic that is a sort of stage-setting for what Revelation 16 talks about: [1] And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
[2] And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

"The 'mark of the beast' won't be a virus but there is an epic pandemic associated with it," explains Jordan. "According to Revelation 16, in that day if you have the 'mark of the beast,' God's going to send a noisome and grievous sore (of leprosy-like disease) upon you.

"The context of Psalm 91 is the 'last days' and verse 3 says, [3] Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
"You ever had a sore that was just boiling, running, wouldn’t quit? It’s nasty, grievous.

"Revelation 13:2: [2] And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

“Notice that when the Antichrist is described as an animal, he’s described as a leopard. He has the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion, but he’s a leopard.

"You remember what Jeremiah 13 said about a leopard? Verse 23 reads, ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.’ You know how you identify a leopard? By his spots.

“If they get that mark of the beast, when the wrath of God comes out, for those birds that have that spot of the beast God puts a spot of leprosy on them.

“And it's in their garments. That’s why Jude 23 says, [23] And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

“Listen, you’re talking about something where God’s literally going to consume people; consume the flesh off their body in judgment.

“The only thing they’ll be fit for is to be consumed; He’s talking about burning them up. Here’s the curse identified in Isaiah 5:24: [24] Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

“It won’t go well for those who’ve cast aside God’s law. Jeremiah 5:14 says, [14] Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

“You remember what John the Baptist said about the Lord Jesus? ‘[12] Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

“That’s what God’s telling them. They may be God’s nation, they may be going back into the land and building that temple and rebuilding that city, but if they don’t go there in faith trusting in God’s Word, and they’re involved in that vain religious system, that curse is on them.

“So Israel’s in a position where they still have to deal with that 5th Course of Judgment. In Zechariah 2 it's called the ‘Holy Land’ and He’s going to consume all those unholy, defiled people out of the land. He’s going to fly that scroll across the sky, fly His Word out there, make it plain. This is the option they have. Then He’s going to separate the wheat from the tares.

*****

"The 'mark of the beast' also has to do with worshipping this political leader who's going to take over the government. He's going to control the monetary system in the world, where you have to have this mark in order to have money to buy or sell. There's going to be monetary reset; a deliberate destruction of the money system on a global scale. These are going to be devastating times for the world.

"The 'mark of the beast' is mentioned eight times in Revelation and there are two beasts. As John writes in Revelation 13:11, [11] And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

"The first beast is the Antichrist and the second beast is the false prophet. Of the first beast, Revelation 13 says: [1] And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
[2] And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

"The first beast is not just one man; he has a whole system he's operating and he's the head. By the way, the leopard, bear and lion is the beast back in Daniel 7. When that fourth beast comes in Daniel 7, the residue of their kingdoms are all assimilated into the Antichrist. When he comes up in the earth to rule and reign he draws people together.

"He turns out to be a bad guy later in his career but he starts out by promising hope, wealth, power. In our day we would call it the Deep State, the elite, the cabal. He controls the governments, media and religion because he's going to be worshipped. He's this character that has this whole vast system of governmental global control.

"Then the next beast comes on and he causes the world to worship the first beast. You know how he's described like a lamb? Jesus is the lamb of God. We're talking about religion. He works miracles. In verse 13 he makes fire come down from heaven. He's a religious figure that professes to perform supernatural events to intervene in history, working miracles with demonstrable events and so forth.

"The first one is a political leader but the second guy, where the 'mark of the beast' comes from, is this religious leader to deceive people with this religious system he uses.

"Revelation 19:20 says, [20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

"You see somebody doing miracles you need to watch out. People are going to do miraculous events to cause others to follow them into a religious system that's designed to make them worship someone who is a false christ.

"There is also a real conspiracy associated with the 'mark of the beast.' How does he deceive them? With religion. Paul says in II Corinthians 11, [13] For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
[14] And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
[15] Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

"Revelation 17 talks about this woman, this religious system the Antichrist uses to come to power: [2] With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
[3] So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
[4] And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
[5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

"You want a conspiracy, there's the real conspiracy! It allows the Antichrist to take over and develop the Deep State system he'll use to try and deceive the whole world.

"Revelation 17:8 says, [8] The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

"There's a spiritual conspiracy that goes on across the earth today to deceive people away from the truth of God's Word into a vain religious system designed to promote and deceive the human race into accepting what Satan's program is all about.

"Paul talks about the man of sin, the son of perdition, being manifested. He writes in  II Thessalonians 2:5, [5] Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
[6] And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
[7] For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

"Mystery Babylon already works and is going today, but there's something restraining it, holding it back, and that something is the church the Body of Christ. Until God finishes forming the Body of Christ, this stuff can't take over.These things in the Book of Revelation, like the 'mark of the beast,' are part of the prophetic program."

*****
Here is an older post on the same subject:
There are four times in the Bible where you find Scripture being written on both sides. In Exodus 32, it says, [15] And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.

In Ezekiel 2, Ezekiel writes [9] And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
[10] And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

John testifies in Revelation 5:1, ‘[1] And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.’

“When Christ opens that seven-sealed book written on both sides, out flows the wrath of God,” explains Jordan. “The seals, the trumpets and the vials; they all flow out of that book. He says, ‘I’ll bring forth,’ and the curse is going to go forth.

“If you look at the reference in Exodus 32, you’ll see God’s wrath flowing out there, too.

“In Zechariah 5:3, we know the roll was written on both sides because it says ‘for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.’

“This vision of Zechariah’s is talking about the judgment to take place when the law, the covenant, has been broken. That curse goes forth and that wrath is laid out.

"In verse 4, he describes it in a way that reminds you of something in book of Leviticus. He writes, [4] I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

“This curse is going to be all-consuming consumption that destroys everything related to the satanic policy of evil of the Antichrist and all his associates. There’s a curse in your Bible that does that.

*****

“Leviticus 13 and 14 deal with leprosy and leprosy in the Bible is a 'sign disease.' It’s a disease God uses as a sign of the corrupting power and the corrupting results of sin. In Exodus 4, Moses says, ‘How are they going to know you sent me?’ God told him, ‘I’ll give you two signs.’

"One of the signs was the sign of leprosy. Moses took his hand, put it in his robe, pulled it out and God made the hand leprosed. Then Moses put it back in and pulled it out and God healed it. It was a sign of healing, but the thing he healed was leprosy; the most deadly, most demonstrative disease because it literally causes flesh to die and corrupt.

“There’s no other disease that has two whole chapters dedicated to it in the Bible. Those chapters in Leviticus aren’t there because leprosy was such a consuming disease in that day.

“In the Mosaic Law, when He told Israel don’t eat pork and don’t eat lobster and catfish, there was no health benefit or problem related to any of that.

“Leviticus 22 tells us that God did that to make Israel look different. There’s not a verse that says He did it for any health reason. God told Adam and Eve to eat herbs. He told Noah for them to eat meat.

“People say, ‘Well, you weren’t made to eat meat so you shouldn’t eat meat.’ Well, if you shouldn’t eat meat God made a mistake telling Noah it was okay to do it. If God told Pete it’s okay to eat pork, then there’s no health problem in it, otherwise God was recommending something that was bad for him. He gave those dietary restrictions to make them separate.

“Leprosy wasn’t because everybody was getting leprosy; it was picked out because it’s a sign; something that carried a message. One of the interesting things about leprosy is that, if you look at Leviticus 14:34, it says, [34] When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession;

“In the first part of the chapter he said leprosy could get into people and they’re unclean when they have it. Notice from the verse that leprosy can not only be in people, it can be in the dwelling place; the house.

“Verse 44-45 says, [44] Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean.
[45] And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.

“The plague can spread out through the house and when the leprosy gets into the house because it came in with the people, it touches the stones, the timbers and even the mortar that holds the stones together. You get completely annihilated and that’s exactly what we’re reading about in Zechariah.

“Leviticus 13: 46-48 says, [46] All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
[47] The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment;
[48] Whether it be in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin.

“Notice the leprosy even gets into the garment. This is a consuming stuff. Here’s how he’s going to describe it. Leviticus 13:2: [2] When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or a bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:

“Notice he describes leprosy as 'a bright spot.' Verse 42 says, [42] And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead.

“So you’ve got this white spot and it gets all festered and all red and infected and that’s how you identify leprosy.

“When that curse goes forth out of that book written on both sides in Revelation 5, and the seals go out and they’re open, then there's the trumpets and the vials come out in chapters 15 and 16."

God tests 'negative'

"Honor thy father and mother" is the only one of the 10 Commandments that isn't expressed in the negative.

" 'Thou shalt not covet,' is the most striking of the bunch, frankly," says Jordan. "God's saying, 'Don't even have the desire.' In all the other commandments He forbids the action. But stop the desire?! No. That's the depths of sin that the law demonstrates. Jesus says evil comes out through the heart. 

"If the commandments are the law of liberty then why are they all negative? How does liberty come out of the negative? The most basic ingredient of liberty is the ability to say, 'No, I don't want to do it.'

"If you can't say 'no' you wind up being coerced. That brings the question, 'What is a right?' A right is defined as a legal immunity from coercion. In our Declaration of Independence it says 'all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.' That means it's a grant of privilege from your Creator and therefore immune from being infringed upon by the government. 

"The privilege of doing it, the positive, is a negative really because the strength in the positive is in the negative. Anything stated in a negative is much stronger than something just stated in the positive because the positive leaves all kind of doors open whereas the negative stops that kind of stuff.

"Titus 1:2 says, [2] In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; That's stronger than saying God tells the truth. Hebrews 6:10 says, [10] For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

"He is not unrighteous to forget. He's not that way. That's a strong way of saying God is not a man that He should lie. It's a stronger statement than saying He will reward you.

"When you make something negative, it's the strongest form of protection and is the definition of real, true liberty. You're setting up an absolute privilege that cannot be violated because you've taken away all the right to object to someone doing it. You can state every one of the 10 Commandments as a positive, but when you do, it loses that ring of absoluteness.

*****

"In Genesis 2 God says, [17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. He's saying, 'That's my privilege, not yours.'

"Satan says to her, 'Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

"When the commandment says, 'Thou shalt have no other gods,' that's just talking about loyalty. You see how that's a lot stronger than saying, 'You need to be loyal.'

"Exodus 20 says, [4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
[5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

"God says, 'Don't just be loyal, you need to worship me.' He said, 'Don't worship idols because the people who do hate me.' You see how much stronger that is?

"By the way, did you notice the end of that verse? You know why people bow down to idols? They hate the God of the Bible, according to the God of the Bible.

" 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain' is much more powerful than just saying, 'Be respectful.' 'Don't work on the Sabbath day' is more powerful than saying, 'Take a day to remember who you are.'

*****

"The law is a good thing; the problem with it is us. Read Romans 7 and you'll see Paul keeps saying, 'I can't do it; I tried. The law condemns me.'

"The law was not intended by God to be a form of bondage. The reason it turns out to be is because we are failures. We sin and the law points out our sin. The law has a purpose beyond just telling us we're sinners, though.

"In Genesis 11 God literally gave up the Gentile nations because they didn't like to retain God in their knowledge. They didn't want Him to be their God so He gave them up and gave them over to all the gods of the world. Remember Satan told Eve, 'If you do what I told you you'll be like the gods; like the angels.'

"Out from among those idol-worshipping Gentiles God chose Abraham and said, 'I'm going to make of you a great nation. You're literally going to be my nation in the earth; the only one I keep relations with. I'm going to demonstrate to everyone on the earth what it's like if you're a nation that has me as your God. They've got all these other gods out there and I'm going to show them all what a bad deal they made when they took them.'

"Israel is God's representative nation in the earth. It's through them that all the other nations of the earth will be blessed and God's will and structure is going to be spread out to the other nations.

***** 

"My early teacher when I was young, Brother Roy Lange of Mobile, Ala., had a little booklet about, 'The Bible's biggest IF.' God said, 'If you will keep my covenant then I will make you a peculiar people . . . '

"He'd already promised them to do that. Had they not been filled with human pride and hubris, they would have been wise enough to say, 'No, no, no, we can't do it.'

"He brings them out of Egypt and into the wilderness, and on five different occasions in Exodus 16-18 He put them into situations where they couldn't help themselves and He stepped in and helped them.

"By then they should know, 'We're not able to do this. He delivered us, now He's provided for us.' When God came along and said, 'If you keep my covenant . . . ,' wisdom would have said, 'Man, you already promised us this. This is on you.' But they didn't do that. Look at Exodus 19:8: [8] And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

"Big mistake, big mistake. The rest of that chapter demonstrates what happened and the alienation that that causes.

"The way you have liberty today is by standing fast in the freedom and the life that Jesus Christ gives us by His grace. Israel has to wait for that liberty in the kingdom. It's one of the things God's provided us now. If you go back under the law system seeking to gain the capacity to be used by God for the purpose He created you, you frustrate God's grace. 

"Nine of the 10 Commandments are repeated by the Apostle Paul. The only one he says not to do is the sabbath. It's the only ceremonial commandment and it has no meaning for us today.

"All the right things the law demanded, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. All the things that God would require of us we can't do anyway. When we walk in the identity God has given us in Christ, it gets produced as a the fruit of the Spirit. That's where liberty for us comes from."

(new article tomorrow)  

Another great hymn story from history:

Two great old gospel hymns, Christ Liveth In Me and I Know Whom I Have Believed, were written by Daniel Webster Whittle (1782-1852), a native New Englander who settled in Chicago after serving and being wounded in the Civil War. Evangelist D. L. Moody once observed, "I think that Major Whittle has written some of the best hymns of this century!"

According to the 1914 Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers, Whittle first joined the 72nd Illinois Infantry in 1861, enlisting in Company B as second lieutenant. He later was with General Sherman on his march to the sea.

"At the close of the war he was breveted 'Major' and the title was never dissociated from his name," writes author J.D. Hall. "It was when he was sent home wounded from Vicksburg, having been shot in his sword arm while leading a charge in place of his wounded captain, that he first met the man who was to so greatly influence his life — Mr. D. L. Moody."

The following is the incident in Major Whittle's own words:

"A big meeting of some kind was being held in the Tabernacle, and with some help I was able to attend, although I was still weak from loss of blood and with my arm in a sling. I was called upon to speak and as I got slowly to my feet, feeling shy and embarrassed and weak, a strong voice called out— 'Give him three cheers, boys,' and they were given with a will, for every heart was bursting with patriotism in those days and the sight of a wounded soldier in a blue uniform stirred the blood.

"And how that kindly thought and that ringing cheer stirred my blood; how grateful I was to them — and the one who called out, 'Give him three cheers,' was Moody, and that is what his friendship meant to me from that moment onward; stimulating, encouraging, appreciating in a twinkling the whole situation — the young soldier's embarrassment, his need of a friendly word of help. He was even then the born leader — 'Give him three cheers,' and they cheered."

"After the Civil War, Major Whittle went to work for the Elgin Watch Company, largely due to the influence of Moody. Whittle wrote his first hymn in 1875 — Christ is All.

Whittle once said, 'I hope that I will never write a hymn that does not contain a message — there are too many hymns that are just a meaningless jingle of words; to do good a hymn must be founded on God's Word and carry the message of God's love.'

"He also felt that the dignity of a gospel hymn deserved the best he could give, not only in material but in construction, and no rules of metre or rhythm were disregarded; he admired greatly the old church hymns and considered them a standard for all hymn writers. He composed about 200 hymns.

"The last words Whittle wrote have never been set to music; they were composed and dictated a few weeks before his death, during a night made sleepless by intense pain. The musical chiming of a little clock by his bedside made him think of the Old Testament high priest of whose approach one was warned by the [sound of the bells on the hem of his robe]. Below we give this beautiful poem:

"Swift, with melodious feet,
The midnight hours pass by;
As with each passing bell so sweet,
I think, 'My Lord draws nigh.'

"I see Heaven's open door,
I hear God's gracious voice;
I see the blood-washed 'round the throne,
And with them I rejoice.

"It may be that these sounds
Are the golden bells so sweet
Which tell me of the near approach
Of the Heavenly High Priest's feet.

"Not every night is thus;
Some nights with pain are drear.
Then I join my moan with creation's groan
And the chimes I do not hear.

"But the Lord remains the same;
Faithful He must abide;
And on His word my soul I'll rest,
For He is by my side.

"Some midnight sleepless saints,
Made quick by pain to hear,
Shall join the glad and welcome cry,
'The Bridegroom draweth near.'

"Then I shall see His face
His beauteous image bear;
I'll know His love and wondrous grace,
And in His glory share.

"So sing my soul in praise,
As bells chime o'er and o'er,
The coming of the Lord draws near,
When time shall be no more."

***** 

Born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, Whittle "was named for the statesman whom his father greatly admired — Daniel Webster," writes Hall. "There were three other boys in the family and before the outbreak of the war, they had all joined the crowds of young men who were leaving New England for the Western states and had settled in Chicago. Whittle went into the Wells Fargo Bank as cashier. He soon became interested in the Tabernacle Sunday-school, the largest in the city, and in the course of time became its superintendent.

"It would be hard to say just when he experienced his first deep interest in religious things; born of a sweet and lovely Christian mother, he probably learned while still a child what God's love and grace in the heart may mean; but it was characteristic of him that he made a definite surrender at a definite time of his heart and life to God.

"At midnight one night, when he was acting as night watchman inside the bank, he says: 'I went into the vault and, in the dead silence of that quietest of places, I gave my life to my Heavenly Father to use as He would.' This act was also characteristic of him in the way it was done; quietly and alone he settled the question with God.

It was through his work in the Tabernacle Sunday-school that he met the woman who was to become his wife — Miss Abbie Hanson. She was also a New Englander by birth."

****

According to the Cyber Hymnal website: "During the war, Whittle lost his right arm, and ended up in a prisoner of war camp. Recovering from his wounds in the hospital, he looked for something to read, and found a New Testament. Though its words resonated with him, he was still not ready to accept Christ.

"Shortly after, a hospital orderly woke him and said a dying prisoner wanted someone to pray with him. Whittle demurred, but the orderly said, 'But I thought you were a Christian; I have seen you reading your Bible.' Whittle then agreed to go.

"He recorded what took place at the dying youth’s bed side: 'I dropped on my knees and held the boy’s hand in mine. In a few broken words I confessed my sins and asked Christ to forgive me. I believed right there that He did forgive me. I then prayed earnestly for the boy. He became quiet and pressed my hand as I prayed and pleaded God’s promises. When I arose from my knees, he was dead. A look of peace had come over his troubled face, and I cannot but believe that God who used him to bring me to the Savior, used me to lead him to trust Christ’s precious blood and find pardon. I hope to meet him in heaven.'

*****

In his own account of Whittle's life, Al Maxey reveals, "His mother was especially troubled by her son's departure for combat. Years later Whittle would write, 'My dear mother was a devout Christian, and parted from me with many a tear, and followed me with many a prayer. She had placed a New Testament in a pocket of the haversack that she'd arranged for me.'

"It was in the POW camp that Daniel truly began to awaken to the spiritual needs in his life. He later wrote, 'We had many engagements, and I saw many sad sights, and in one of the battles I was knocked out, and that night my arm was amputated above the elbow. As I grew better, having a desire for something to read, I felt in my haversack, which I had been allowed to keep, and found the little Testament that my mother had placed there. I read right through the book --- Matthew, Mark, Luke, to Revelation. Every part was interesting to me, and I found to my surprise that I could understand it in a way I never had before. When I had finished Revelation, I began at Matthew, and read it through again. And so for days I continued reading, and with continued interest; and still with no thought of becoming a Christian, although I could see clearly from what I read the way of salvation through Christ.'

"The Holy Spirit had laid the foundation for an event that would now transform his life. Whittle wrote, 'While in this state of mind, yet still with no purpose or plan to repent and accept the Savior, I was awakened one midnight by the nurse, who said: 'There is a boy in the other end of the ward, one of your men, who is dying. He has been begging me for the past hour to pray for him, or to get someone to pray for him, and I can't stand it. I am a wicked man, and can't pray, so I have come to get you.'

"Whittle protested, saying that he too was a wicked man and unable to pray for another. To this the nurse responded, 'I thought sure from seeing you read your Testament that you were a praying man. And you are the only man in the ward that I have not heard curse. What shall I do?! There is no one else for me to go to. I can't go back there alone. Won't you get up and come and see him at any rate?'

Whittle continued, 'Moved by his appeal, I arose from my cot, and went with him to the far corner of the room. A fair-haired boy, only seventeen or eighteen, lay there dying. There was a look of intense agony upon his face as he fastened his eyes upon me.'

"The boy admitted to Whittle that he had been raised in the church by Christian parents, but had acted wickedly while in the army. Now that he was dying he was afraid, and needed someone to pray for him. It was at that point that Daniel Whittle said he dropped to his knees beside that bed and not only prayed for this boy, but also for himself and his own sins, asking the Lord to accept them both.

*****

"Whittle's daughter May (1870-1963) married Moody's son William, and in due time the Major made the decision to leave secular work and devote his life to evangelism, proclaiming God's grace and liberty in Jesus. In those days, evangelistic campaigns (at least the far more successful ones) were noted for both their preaching and singing. Thus, Whittle teamed up with the Christian hymn writer and singer Philip P. Bliss [see my tribute to this saintly man in Reflections #283]. Their first gospel meeting was held in Waukegan, Illinois, on March 24-26, 1874. It was during this meeting that Philip Bliss sang one of his most famous hymns -- Almost Persuaded -- which had a tremendous impact upon the crowd.

"The fame of the preaching/singing team of Whittle and Bliss grew and grew, until finally it was requested they bring their evangelistic ministry to England. Moody urged them to accept this invitation, and so they agreed. Their plans were to hold a meeting in Chicago, at Moody's congregation, shortly after Christmas of 1876, and then leave for a preaching tour of England. 

"Unfortunately, Bliss and his wife were killed in a tragic train wreck just a few days after Christmas. Whittle went immediately to the scene of this great tragedy and remained there for three days searching for any sign of personal effects. He would later lament, 'We found nothing! They have gone, as absolutely and completely gone as if translated like Enoch.'

"The fire following the train wreck left no sign of either Bliss or his wife. The following year (in 1877), Whittle wrote/edited The Memoirs of Philip P. Bliss, which is the primary reference source on the life of this great man. Following the death of Bliss, Whittle teamed up with singer/musician James McGranahan, and then later with George O. Stebbins.

"In association with these two men, Whittle made several evangelistic trips to Europe, and they also traveled extensively across America preaching the Gospel. Numerous men and women found freedom in Christ through their work.

"In addition to being a powerful proclaimer of Truth, Major Whittle was also quite an accomplished hymn writer. Some of his hymns are still sung today in countless Christian congregations throughout the world. Such beloved classics as There Shall Be Showers of Blessing, I Know Whom I Have Believed, There's A Royal Banner, and Why Not Now? all came from the inspired pen of this talented brother in Christ, uplifting the souls of saints years after his own passing from this life."

'Tis an ocean vast of blessing'

“O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!

Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!” begins the classic hymn from 1875. “Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!”

Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus was Samuel Trevor Francis’ (1834-1925) most widely circulated hymn, one he lived long enough to hear sung by congregations around the world, sometimes in different languages. Another hymn the England native wrote,  I Am Waiting for the Dawning, begins,

1 I am waiting for the dawning
Of that bright and glorious day,
When the darksome night of sorrow
Shall have vanished far away;
When forever with the Saviour,
Far beyond this vale of tears,
I shall swell the hymn of worship
Thru the everlasting years.

“Like young Timothy, Trevor benefited from a godly mother and grandmother, who understood the benefits of early child training,” wrote his longtime friend and co-laborer, F. B. Meyer, in a tribute after Francis’ death. “The Bible was their textbook used to teach him to read. One of his earliest memories is of stepping into his mother’s bedroom with his older brother, where they knelt beside her, and listening to her pleading that her sons would ‘grow up to be God-fearing men.’

“As a child of five or six, Trevor lived with his grandmother and aunt at Cheshunt. They poured in Bible truth in the way that the servants at the wedding in Cana filled the water pots. But it would be more than a decade before God would turn the water to wine. He attended religious services regularly and, with his father and older brother, sang the grand old hymns in the choir of Hull Parish. But he was not born again.

“On the threshold of adulthood, his father arranged a career for Trevor. For twelve months he was in an apprenticeship program with a medical doctor in Camberwell, but everything changed when his father died. He dropped out of the arrangement.

“In poor health, the teenager went to stay with his uncle in Hull. There Trevor met a chemist named Mr. Akester who was leading young people’s Bible studies. One day, Akester asked ‘if he would like to see a man buried alive.’ It turned out to be a baptism, with the eccentric Andrew Jukes officiating.

“Jukes was the author of ‘The Law of the Offerings, Types in Genesis, and A Comparison of the Four Gospels.’ Something of a prodigy, Jukes had a sad weakness for speculative interpretations. But despite Jukes’ future blunders and heresies, the assembly was at that time in a healthy state. There in Hull, Trevor had his first brush with an assembly of Believers who met in Scriptural simplicity. Unencumbered by ritual,  he heard clear gospel preaching.

“Soon after, the nineteen-year-old was returning to London: ‘On my way home from work I had to cross Hungerford Bridge to the south of the Thames. It was a winter’s night of wind and rain, and in the loneliness of that walk I cried to God to have mercy upon me. Staying for a moment to look at the dark waters flowing under the bridge, the temptation was whispered to me, ‘Make an end of all this misery.’

" 'I drew back from the evil thought, and suddenly a message was borne into my very soul, ‘You do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?’ I at once answered, ‘I do believe, and I put my whole trust in Him as my Saviour.’ Instantly there came this reply: ‘Then you are saved,’ and with a thrill of joy I ran across the bridge, burst through the turnstile and pursued my way home, repeating the words again and again, ‘Then I am saved; then I am saved.'

“After this great change, Trevor seemed perpetually thrilled. He wrote,

I thought I was saved by my working,
My goodness, my praying, my tears;
I labored with wearisome effort
To conquer my sins and my fears–
Until I at last saw the Saviour,
And knew it was only His blood
That could bring me, a vile, wretched sinner,
Near, near to a heart-searching God.

“In search of a church home,  Francis tracked down the source of a pamphlet, and discovered a congregation in Kennington, in the south of London, which was similar to the congregation he had seen in Hull. There he attended a number of months before he was received into fellowship. If the meeting was overly strict, it was also overly privileged. It was the home assembly of several remarkable saints. Dr. Edward Cronin was in fellowship there. He had been in the nucleus of the Dublin assembly in the winter of 1827-28 with Francis Hutchinson, John Nelson Darby and J. G. Bellett.

"Surely none of these young men had realized the reverberations in the church of God that would result from their inconspicuous beginnings. Only four years later, in 1832, Cronin went to Baghdad to assist Anthony Norris Groves in evangelistic work. There he lost his sister and wife to disease, and was once left for dead after being stoned out of a village.

“William Joseph Lowe also fellowshipped in Kennington. Lowe was about four years younger than Francis. Also raised in a believing home, he was converted in childhood, and Francis would have known him and his family. Lowe was a scholar in the classical languages. Ancient and modern together, he was familiar with ten or eleven tongues.

"In later years Lowe traveled across Europe and aided Darby in his extensive translation work. Darby remarked that Lowe was the best taught young man he knew. After Darby’s death he labored extensively with Thomas Neatby and William Kelly.

“The weighty input these men gave to the Kennington assembly was like the ballast in the boat. The zealous young Francis began to develop. In open-air preaching, especially during the Revival of 1859-1860, his giftedness in the gospel became obvious. He was also a worker in the city missions.

*****

"Later, when Dwight L. Moody and Ira Sankey conducted their London campaign in 1873-1874, men like F. B. Meyer and S. Trevor Francis were willing helpers. Ira Sankey enlisted Francis’ help directing the singing at several evangelistic meetings. "In one accord with Moody’s fervor, Francis’ poems show an energetic, aggressive faith."

Arise! ye warriors of the cross,
The Master’s word obeying,
Gird on the sword, count all things loss,
Go forth without delaying;
Still forward, ’tis our Lord’s command,
He will forsake us never;
His mighty hand none can withstand,
And He is with us ever.

“During this active career, he authored Eternal Love, Oh Mighty Sea; Hark! A Gentle Stranger Knocketh; Call the Weary Home; Let Me Sing You a Song of Heaven; Jesus, We Remember Thee; Home of Light and Glory; Forward, Christian, Forward; Revive Us, Lord Jesus; Oh, For the Meeting in the Radiant Air; Safe to Land; No Shadows Darken, and many more, some of which are found in the Believers’ Hymn Book and Hymns of Light and Love.

“After a partial loss of sight, the doctor encouraged Francis to take a sea voyage, which became a world tour. The beloved poet sailed to Canada, Australia, Palestine, Egypt, and, accompanied by R. C. Morgan, the first editor of The Christian magazine, to parts of North Africa.

"It was the testimony of those who knew him that during all his seventy-three years in the Christian pathway, Francis was a consistent, fruitful witness in Britain and all other lands he visited. In December of 1925, at the advanced age of 92, he entered into the perfection of the joys he had previously only tasted:

No pain, no grief, no sorrow,
For night hath changed to day;
In God’s eternal morrow
All tears are wiped away.

A collection of his poems, which had appeared in many papers, including The Revival, The Witness, The Christian, Word and Work, Great Thoughts, Life of Faith, was produced under the title of “Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.”

Dr. Thirtle, in The Christian, said: “All his poetical work, as well as his spoken word, was permeated by a realization of the love of Christ, and with a heart desire to see the Saviour’s face.” Now he realizes what he so sweetly penned:
“At Home with the Lord, what joy is this I
To gaze on His face is infinite bliss.”

****

Paul writes in I Corinthians 2:9, [9] But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

“In this verse, Paul talks about the three ways you can know something. By the eye, or empiricism, the ear (rationalism or figuring it out on the basis of reason) and then revelation, explains Jordan. “God can reveal the thing to you, as in verse 10: [10] But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

“Notice the description of the things of God in verse 10. ‘The Spirit searcheth all things.’ That is, He knows everything there is to know. He’s not talking about how the Spirit doesn’t know what’s going on so he looks into it. He’s talking about how there’s nothing held back from what the Spirit of God understands and knows.

“David says to God, ‘Search me and know me. Try me and see if there be any evil way.’ He isn’t saying God doesn’t know what’s in his heart. He’s saying, ‘Come down here and know me and look and see and examine.’ Not as someone who doesn’t know, but as someone who DOES know.

“The spiritual man can personally, experientially enter into all things--‘yea, the deep things of God.’ He knows the doctrines of God inside and out; he even knows the deep things of God. When Paul’s talking about deep things, he’s talking about mystery truth. He calls them that because they’re hidden things and not known.

“Notice how this word ‘deep’ is used in Psalm 92: ‘[5] O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
[6] A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.

“The idea there is a brutish man, a natural man, can’t know them. For a thought to be deep, the idea there is that it’s unknown. It’s not understood by others. They’re hidden thoughts. They’re thoughts that are kept back and not made known.

“The mystery truth is that God kept some things secret and hid in Himself so that no one else could know them. They were tremendous in their value and scope but it was also hidden wisdom.

*****

“Romans 11 says, ‘[33] O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
[34] For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller?
[35] Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

“Paul has just spent 11 chapters writing down, delineating, and explaining the judgments and the ways of God. He’s just spent all the previous part of Romans revealing to you the MIND of the Lord.

“In I Corinthians 2, the last verse says, ‘[16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

“Where do you have it? In the Word of God. Folks, you wouldn’t know the depth of them if they weren’t revealed to you. You ever thought about that?! You would just SUSPECT that they must be deep, big and wonderful.

*****

“In your Bible, there’s not only the deep things of God; there’s another system of deep things. In the first two chapters of II Corinthians is the conflict between divine viewpoint and human viewpoint. More than that, though, between divine viewpoint and ‘the wisdom of the princes of this world which God’s wisdom has brought to nought.’

“The program of the Adversary is referred to in Revelation 2:24: [24] But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.

“Notice, the depths of Satan is associated with a doctrine. There is a wisdom and a set of principles, programs and plans and philosophy that are described in the Bible, not as ‘the deep things of God,’ but rather as the deep things of the Adversary.

“It’s his agenda, his program, his plans, his purposes, his personality, and what he is seeking to accomplish. It has to do with a doctrine.”

A hymn from 1900, written by Selma, Ala., pastor Charles Price Jones, credited with writing 1,000 gospel songs, begins:

Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus
Daily let me go;
Higher, higher in the school of wisdom,
More of grace to know.

(new article tomorrow)